


Speed-Walking

by Anonymous033



Series: For However Far We Run [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4093396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous033/pseuds/Anonymous033
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The very half-naked Oliver Queen just smirked at her. “Hi,” he drawled. “You lucked out. Today would be the best day to bump into me.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Speed-Walking

**Author's Note:**

> Oliver and Felicity are both still in college, but Felicity's style more closely mimics current canon than flashback canon.

It was spring.

The sun was out, the birds were singing, and the flowers were blooming; Felicity Smoak was speed-walking through campus because she had a million things to do and not enough arms to do them with.

(That, and she just liked the sound of her heels clicking rapidly against concrete pavement.)

She swerved around the corner of a building without really paying attention to where she was going, which turned out to be a mistake; the collision would have knocked her clean off her feet if it hadn’t been for—

The naked guy.

The _very_ naked guy.

Well, the very _half-_ naked guy.

The very half-naked Oliver Queen.

“Hard—I mean, _hi,_ ” Felicity whimpered. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

The very half-naked Oliver Queen just smirked at her. “Hi,” he drawled. “You lucked out. Today would be the best day to bump into me.”

“What do you mean?” Felicity questioned him, narrowing her eyes.

Half-Naked Oliver Queen bent down— _whoa, okay, those were some tight jeans_ and also, _wow—_ and picked up a cardboard sign Felicity hadn’t noticed until now. ‘Free Hugs,’ it read loudly in block capitals. There were two crudely drawn hugging stick figures at the bottom-right corner of the sign.

“Lost a bet?” Felicity enquired politely.

Half-Naked Oliver Queen’s face fell. “How’d you know?”

“You’re Oliver Queen,” she pointed out. “You don’t give out shirtless free hugs. You charge them the equivalent of a few cases of beer and an abundance of willingness. Not that I’m judging—but you still don’t give them out for free.”

“Yeah, I lost a bet,” Half-Naked Oliver Queen grumbled in admittance. “But who wouldn’t want a piece of this?”

That was true, sadly.

And she was unfortunately not being surreptitious about her ogling. (Oops?)

Dragging her eyes from the contours of his sculpted abdomen and meeting his immensely amused gaze, she lifted her chin. “Let it be stated for the record that that ‘hug’ was very much not a hug and also very much _not intentional._ ”

Half-Naked Oliver Queen chortled in reply. “We could do it again. Just to get it right.”

“That—you pick up girls with that line?”

“Nope. I usually pick them up on the first go.”

“ _Yeaaah._ ” Felicity winced in sympathy. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but that’s not gonna get me to hug you again.”

“You say it like some _other_ line is gonna get you to hug me again,” Half-Naked Oliver Queen pointed out unabashedly with his eyes twinkling.

_Damnit._ Felicity bit hard into her bottom lip, but the heat from her cheeks still scalded her. “That wasn’t—I wasn’t— _frack it!_ ”

Half-Naked Oliver Queen tipped his head back, his breaths escaping him in a way that wasn’t quite outright laughing but wasn’t quite _not_ laughing either. “You’re hilarious,” he said candidly when he was done with his huffing. “What’s your name?”

“Felicity Smoak,” she muttered sullenly. “I would shake your hand, but you’re still holding up your gigantic sign, and there are two girls standing off to the side there waiting for you to notice them.”

Half-Naked Oliver Queen peered to his right. On cue, one of the girls waved at them from the short distance away.

“Stay here. Please,” he added as an afterthought before he jogged over to the two girls. Felicity watched with mild fascination as the bolder of the girls approached him and shook his hand; after a short conversation with him, she beckoned to her shyer friend, who approached like a spooked deer and gave Half-Naked Oliver Queen a cautious, tentative hug.

Even from the distance, Felicity could tell that Shy Girl was blushing furiously when she pulled away.

Bold Girl simply shook Half-Naked Oliver Queen’s hand once more, though. Before Felicity could even blink, Half-Naked Oliver Queen again stood in front of her.

“So,” he said.

“So,” she said. “Well, _that_ happened.”

“Yeah. That happens a lot.” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. “Now, about that retry hug—”

“ _Really,_ Oliver?” Felicity interrupted in exasperation. “ _Really?_ ”

“I had to give it a shot!” he protested sheepishly.

She shook her head. “No. That is—gross. Don’t do that.”

“Okay…” He blew a slow whistle through his lips, as if in deep contemplation. “Can I interest you in a cup of coffee instead, then?”

That one she was not expecting.

That one came out of the left field.

“Me?”

Half-Naked Oliver Queen simply nodded, looking perplexed by her incredulity. “Yeah.”

Felicity scoffed in disbelief.

“Okay. This face?” she said, gesturing large circles around her face for illustrative purposes, “It’s not just pretty. I work really hard. I spend _hours_ outside of class writing code. I also TA two days a week and maintain a 4.0 GPA _every term._ My coffee breaks are all very intense, and if you’re asking me out just for a chance to feel me up? You’re gonna be _really_ disappointed, because all you’ll get is an armful of crazed, java-deprived programmer.”

“I’m not asking you out for that!” Half-Naked Oliver Queen exclaimed defensively. “I’m—I find you interesting.”

“I’m _so_ not your usual type.”

“I know.” Yet, he sobered so abruptly that it caught Felicity off-guard. “That doesn’t mean I don’t find you interesting.”

“What’s in it for you?” she asked, squinting suspiciously at him.

“ _Nothing!_ ” he insisted on a laugh. “I promise. I just—you amuse me. _In the good way,_ ” he added emphatically at her opening mouth. “I wanna see where this could go.”

Huh. (Again.)

Her day really was turning out to be full of surprises.

She had not been expecting that when she had pulled on her favourite pair of heels and set out to conquer the universe.

“You really find me interesting?” she asked, watching his face carefully for any sign that he was lying.

He looked completely sincere, though, when he met her gaze head-on and answered, “Yeah.”

Well okay, then.

She wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

(And she was pretty sure he expected by now that she would rain hell on him if he tried pulling one over on her.)

“Fair enough,” she murmured, digging through her purse for a pen. “Hold on just a sec…”

Whipping the pen out, she uncapped it and pressed her palms into his shoulder. A quick flourish produced, scribbled in black ink, her phone number; she capped her pen with the lid she held in between her teeth and looked up to take in his stupefied expression.

“Did you just _mark_ me?” he asked, sounding flabbergasted.

“No one ever said a good girl couldn’t have an edgy side to her,” Felicity replied, clicking her tongue and shooting him a saucy wink. (She could do the flirty-flirt. … Sometimes.) “Call me. If you can be bothered reading that from a mirror.”

And with that: Felicity out.

Oh, she could totally feel his eyes on her ass as she walked away.

It was deliciously satisfactory to know that the exhibit-worthy assets didn’t reside on _his_ body alone.

“You know, I’m gonna collect on that hug eventually!” he yelled after her, and she threw her head back and laughed.

Speed-walking really had excellent benefits.

* * *

Crossposted to: [Tumblr](http://anonymous033.tumblr.com/post/120946051557/speed-walking-an-olicity-one-shot-au-setting)


End file.
